By Clint Thompson
The Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association’s new consumer-focused social media marketing campaign, #EveryBiteCounts, continues the organization’s effort to educate consumers about the importance of supporting local farmers.
With the hashtag #EveryBiteCounts, the goal is to educate consumers about the impact of purchasing in-season domestically grown fruits and vegetables, says Chris Butts, executive vice president of the Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association (GFVGA).
“I think what differentiates this one from efforts we’ve done in the past is that we’ve had meetings with all of our allied agricultural organizations and produce groups from across the Southeast,” Butts said. “We’ve had these assets and social media content and calendars. We’ve developed these assets with the intention of sharing them with other organizations but also allowing those organizations to share them with their producers. There’s only so much we can do by ourselves but if we all combine and get on the same sheet of music, we can leverage that strength and leverage our influence to reach more consumers which is the end game.”
Like other states in the Southeast, Georgia has been impacted by increased imports from other countries, namely Mexico. It would behoove producers in the future if the GFVGA can encourage industry and farming leaders to join in this #EveryBiteCounts social media campaign.
“Step one is just educating the public that we’ve got over 30 fruit and vegetable commodities grown in Georgia, which most people don’t know. We’ve got a calendar for what it’s in season,” Butts said. “The short message is there’s always something fresh and locally grown on the produce shelves in your local grocery stores. It’s just as much an education effort about that to let folks know there’s always a Georgia grown fresh option available to them throughout the year.”
The organization’s social media tool kit consists of monthly calendars that show when different crops are in season. It also has additional graphics and resources designed to highlight Georgia’s specialty crop production.
“This is one of the tools in the toolbox that can help us promote Georgia grown produce. By itself it’s not going to solve our problem. But it’s one of the tools that we can use and start by making folks aware of products that are available from Georgia, that are available from the Southeast and are available from U.S. producers,” Butts said.
“We’ve got to be our biggest cheerleaders, and full disclosure, Georgia has done a great job with Georgia Grown. This is really an effort to try to build on that branding and recognition. There’s no need for us to go out and reinvent the wheel. As a small trade association, we really can’t do that.”
